


Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

by Shiralala



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Hunters, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Awkward Crush, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Romance, Awkwardness, Boys Being Boys, Boys Kissing, Happy Ending, I didn't expect this to be the first one lol, I never thought I'd ever write pepsicola, I'm Sorry, Karkat is a cat for purely comedic reasons, Let's go with that, M/M, Minor Character Death, My First Work in This Fandom, New York City, Not technically major character death, SOPHIE CAN'T WRITE BATTLE SCENES, Some angst?, Supernatural Elements, Trigger Warning: Decapitation, a lot of things happen actually, also how do you do line breaks, also the summary is crap, and also because johndavekat are my babies, as they say, boys are stupid, cheesy as fuck ending, happy(?) ending, holy shit, idk if that's a trigger um, just awkward in general, my bad - Freeform, shit happens, supremely cheesy, that might be it for the tags, this is a mess, whoops, wow there's so many time-skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-18 00:22:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9353864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shiralala/pseuds/Shiralala
Summary: When Dave moved to New York City from Houston, he'd expected the difference in temperature. He'd known about the difference in the general attitude, and he'd been prepared for the change in accents.But he should've known that he couldn't leave the supernatural life behind.(what was he thinking?)It turns out that there's a ghost in his apartment. And with Dave's luck, it's acuteghost.(the world is definitely conspiring against him.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to reiterate that I never thought that I'd write DaveJohn, much less that it'd be my first published Homestuck work on here. (I'm a JohnKat shipper through and through.) But then, "Shit happens." ~~or, ship happens. hahaha~~
> 
> So in my Creative Writing class, we had to write a short story. (Side note: I just realized that the two currently published works I have on here are both from my Creative Writing class. WOW. Thanks, Mrs. DiMarco!) And I had a semblance of a plot/story, with ORIGINAL CHARACTERS. And then my brain went, _omg you could totally make it Homestuck._  
>  And then this happened.
> 
> This is the second draft; when I first workshopped the story, the entire second half was basically just summarized, and the gay was not implied well enough. So I went back and built the relationships up a bit.  
> I'm including the introduction/explanation that I had for class here, so that even people not in the Homestuck fandom can understand.  
> Also, Jade is part furry because reasons. So she has dog ears that move and react to her emotions.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
>  
> 
> In a vaguely Supernatural-esque world, Dave, an albino (just go with it) has moved from his hometown in Texas to New York City. His twin sister Rose is a blogger and psychologist, and also happens to be a (domestic) witch. She lives across the street from him, right above her shop for H. P. Lovecraft-themed objects and lore. Her roommate Jade is also a witch, and also happens to be Dave’s ex-girlfriend. But it isn’t awkward, or anything; they’re still friends. (Also, Rose’s blog handle is “TentacleTherapist”, and her theme is purple. And Jade is partly furry. It’s a long story.) Dave was raised mostly by his older bro, Dirk, who’s a Hunter (of demons and supernatural stuff), and the Sensei of a dojo in his down time. Dave is a photographer who’s tried to somewhat escape the supernatural world, although it follows him. Jade’s powers are teleportation, shrinking and growing things, and general space manipulation. Dave and Dirk are expert swordsmen, and can “flashstep”, which is like short-range teleportation. And Rose has wands that wreak havoc. She can cast spells and stuff.  
> ("Karkat" the cat was a stray that Dave found huddled under a car outside his apartment. That's pretty much the end of the story.)

Dave had a hunch that the problem with his apartment was paranormal.

It was 8 pm, the day after he'd moved to the new apartment in Manhattan. It wasn't that different from Houston, he guessed; maybe a bit cooler. The best and worst part was that it was right across the street from his twin sister's shop and apartment, so if he ever needed anything he could ask her.

Their last combo-twenty-first Birthday Bash™ had been epic beyond belief, and he'd decided he'd kill two birds with one stone, and move to New York, where there was better photography business, _and_ he could see his favorite sibling full-time. Rose just _got_ him in a way that his big bro couldn't.

He'd been working on his laptop on something-or-other, organizing a meeting with a woman who'd wanted to feature his photography in a magazine or a showcase, and all the lights had suddenly gone off.

Dave cursed—his work wasn't disturbed, since the draft of his email had auto-saved, but it was still a bother to not be able to see. Glancing out the window at the city night, he frowned at the lights that were glowing everywhere but in his room. Grabbing his phone out of his pocket, he turned the flashlight on, and made his way out the apartment door, and down the stairs to where he'd been told the circuit box was. He found it perfectly fine, but weirdly enough, the only switch that had been flipped was his apartment.

He'd complained to the landlady, but she'd told him that the cameras hadn't shown anybody going into or out of that hallway before Dave.

Coming back in—thankfully he'd remembered the key in his pocket—he noticed right away that his laptop had been closed, and inexplicably flipped upside-down on the table. Confused, he tried to locate the cat, guessing that he'd been the cause, but Karkat was, quite literally, wrapped up in a game with a ball of yarn, in Dave's bedroom, with the door closed.

So, yeah. Something weird was definitely afoot.

~~~

Dave woke up the next morning at 11 am— _way_ too early for his nocturnal disposition—to hear water running. He groaned, rubbing his eyes, before grabbing his sunglasses from his bedside table and slowly sitting up, shoving his shades over his red irises and running a hand through his bleach-blond hair. He stumbled out of bed, walking over to the bathroom and opening the door, only to let out a very unmanly shriek when a small flood of water poured over his socked feet.

Dave let out a string of expletives that would probably have given his elderly neighbor a heart attack, had she heard him. Wincing at the feeling of his already soaking socks, he sloshed through the water over to the sink and the bathtub, which were both running, although he knew he'd turned them off.

It was then that he knew: it was a ghost.

Either that, or the invisible man.

Sighing, Dave pulled off his wet socks and tossed them in the tub—no way was he going to keep them on—unplugged the drain, and turned off both taps. He pulled all of the towels he had out of the closet and dumped them on the wet floor, preoccupied.

After searching for some time, Dave located his hand-me-down EMF detector kit, and assembled it with some difficulty. And when he turned it on, sure enough, there were traces of ghostly activity.

The albino sighed, knowing that he'd have to get a second opinion at least, if not help.

Flopping heavily into the armchair in his small living room, he managed to sneak his phone out of the back pocket of his skinny jeans, and pressed the center button. "Call Lavender Leviathan," he told Siri, and waited.

Rose picked up on the third ring, as usual. "And what troubles you today, sir?" She asked, sounding sympathetic and soothing. Dave cut straight to the chase, however. "There's a ghost in the apartment."

Rose made a short 'hm' of interest. "Really? Go on."

Dave growled a little. "I'm serious. I want to do a summon thingy. Bring Jade."

Dave knew Rose, so he could tell that she was delicately raising one eyebrow. "Very well. I shall inform Jade that we're planning a séance. Shall we say, tonight at six?"

Dave pressed a hand to his forehead and rubbed his face. "'M not gonna get any sleep, am I?" Rose clicked her tongue in a way that was almost caring, then hung up.

~~~

The moment Dave opened the door, Jade came bounding in excitedly. Dave thought privately that if she had a dog's tail, it would be wagging wildly. As it was, her fake furry ears were twitching. "Dave!" She cried, jumping into his arms as if it had been four years since she had seen him, instead of just a week. Dave patted her head and thanked his lucky stars that Jade wasn't the "nightmare ex-girlfriend" type.

And also that she wasn't the type to use her witch-powers to make his life miserable. That was also very, very lucky.

Rose raised an eyebrow at the two of them, her violet eyes twinkling with amusement. “Shall we begin?” She asked, gesturing to the center of the living room, where a circle of candles were set up, and with another flick of her wrist she lit them.

Rose pulled out her trademark lavender incense out of a hidden pocket of her dress, and lit that, too. She glanced disdainfully at the small bag of Gushers that Dave had placed as an offering. He raised his hands up in surrender. “All I have is junk food, right now.”

They sat in a circle, holding hands. Dave privately thought that he’d never felt more stupid, and made a mental note never to do this again. Rose instructed them to close their eyes.

“Spirits, move among us. Those drawn to the light, reveal yourselves!” Rose chanted.

“Are you kidding me?!” An unfamiliar male voice asked, sounding offended.

All their eyes shot open, and they stared at the skinny man who had appeared in the center of the circle. The man—or was it a boy?—nudged the packet of Gushers with the toe of his converse. “I hate these,” he complained.

Dave examined the ghost. He was about average height, and seemed to be about his age. He had black hair, which was incredibly messy, and black square glasses that were sliding down his round face. He wouldn’t have been identifiable as a ghost if not for the faint blue glow around him. He certainly _looked_ solid. But the thing that struck Dave the most was the white Ghostbusters T-shirt that the ghost was wearing.

“Why ‘Ghostbusters’,” Dave blurted out. The girls and the ghost all looked at him. “Um. It’s my favorite shirt,” the ghost shrugged, smiling. Rose shook her head at Dave, before turning back to the ghost.

“Please forgive my brother. What is your name?” Rose asked calmly, as if she was a normal human, having a conversation with another normal human.

The ghost grinned. “Oh, yeah. I’m John!” He smiled, glancing back at Dave. “And you are?” Dave fought the urge to do something stupid, like flip his hair, or _flirt with the ghost_. The guy was pretty cute, that was all. “Dave,” he said simply. “And I’m Jade, and that’s Rose,” Jade added, but John kept looking at Dave. “Nice to finally meet you, Dave,” John said, smiling wider. And then he _winked_.

Dave couldn’t help it. He let go of Rose’s and Jade’s hands and double facepalmed, groaning into his hands. Rose and Jade exchanged looks, then looked back at John.

“Dave here was wondering if you were the one messing with his apartment,” Jade said, “And if you were, why? And also, stop. Even if it was your apartment before, that’s just plain rude.” She pouted, but could only keep it for a second before it morphed back into a smile. John _giggled_. _Who_ is _this guy,_ Dave wondered. “Yeah, sorry, but pranking is kind of the family business, so. No promises.” John said, smirking, and Dave thought for a second. “Okay, so can you keep it to only _inside_ the apartment? Like, the electricity thing was uncalled for.” John considered it, then nodded. “Fine,” he agreed, and then his face brightened suddenly. “This is going to be so fun!” He disappeared.

~~~

Towards the end of the next day, Dave was starting to wonder if John had just left. He hadn’t seen or heard the ghost all day. So for some reason, his brain said, ‘Why not play a horror game, just for the irony?’ But a half hour into a Five Nights at Freddy’s rip-off, he nearly pissed his pants when John suddenly appeared in front of him, a knowing grin on his face. “Whatcha doing?” He asked innocently, and Dave was about to strangle him when a screaming animatronic suddenly popped up on the screen of his laptop. Dave shrieked, slamming the laptop shut, and had to breathe heavily for about five minutes while John watched, amused at first, and then slightly worried.

When Dave could finally breathe, he calmly put his laptop down before chasing John all over the apartment, while Karkat looked on in amusement. John finally disappeared when Dave cornered him, and all Dave could do was groan. 

~~~

About a week later, to his surprise, Dave had begun to enjoy John’s company. With some concentration, John use his psychics to hold game joysticks and controllers, and it turned out that he was wickedly good at Mario Kart. When Dave demanded to know how he’d gotten so good, John shrugged. “Grew up with it.” This led to a discussion as to how long ago he’d died, which John couldn’t really remember.

Of course, John was still pranking him. He decided the best way to do this was by surprising Dave when he was vulnerable. One of these occasions was when Dave was taking a shower. John had casually drifted through the door, then quickly covered his eyes, laughing. The ghost had immediately run back out, cackling and screaming “no homo”, and Dave was totally mortified. Rose came over later that day, and John had proudly told her that Dave liked to belt ‘NSYNC. Dave tried to retaliate, but the only thing he could think of was walking around his apartment naked. (He wasn’t sure who he was punishing more, John or himself. This stupid crush was making him stupid.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was absolutely no reason for Dave to be watching “Con Air.” He had no defense. John had asked him to order it, and he’d done it without hesitation. (He was whipped for a freaking ghost. His entire life was a joke.) And despite all of his snarky comments throughout the movie, Dave was tearing up a little at the end. Embarrassed, he wiped his eyes, glancing at the ghost next to him. To his surprise, John was looking at him with an expression that Dave couldn’t quite place. “Did you like the movie?” John asked, smiling softly. Dave coughed, and smiled despite himself. “It was trash,” he said, and John laughed. “Shut up, you totally loved it,” John retorted.

Dave hesitated. “Maybe,” he allowed, and John smiled even wider. “Told ya,” he said, tilting his head towards Dave.

Rose suddenly burst into the apartment, causing John to pull away, and Dave fell off of the couch. He was about to say something about privacy, but then he saw Rose’s face, which was even paler than usual. Jade stumbled in after her, out of breath, and looking tired and confused. She opened her mouth, but Rose motioned for Jade to shut the door. She did, then looked expectantly at the other witch, who took a deep breath. “I Saw a demon,” Rose said, her voice quivering slightly. Jade gasped, and Dave cursed, getting to his feet. John looked questioningly at Dave, who explained briefly, “Rose’s a Seer. Can see the future, evil, stuff like that.” Comprehension dawned on the ghost’s face, and now he looked concerned.

“It’s going to arrive in five days. April 13,” Rose added. Now John glowed white for a moment. “That’s my birthday,” he said shakily.

~~~

Rose gave them a run-down of what she’d Seen. The demon was apparently some sort of alien entity, and would land in Central Park on a meteor in the afternoon. (Jade and Dave had learned that nothing made sense, but John had endless questions.) Everybody also agreed that John couldn’t possibly help, and that it’d be best for him to just stay at the apartment.

Dave had called his bro—it was so weird to hear his gruff Texan accent through the phone—and Dirk had said that he’d be in New York when the ‘jackass’ touched down, even if he had to charter a private jet.

~~~~~~~~~~~

On the day of, as promised, Dirk met them on the roof of Dave’s apartment building at noon. Despite Dave’s protests, Dirk pulled him into a tight hug, even kissing the top of Dave’s head, before pulling back. Dave could tell he winked at him, even through two pairs of shades, his own and his brother’s triangular, pointy anime sunglasses. Dirk briefly greeted Rose and Jade, and then they sat down to wait.

At exactly 4:10 Rose gasped, at the same time that Jade shouted out, pointing at a tiny dot that had appeared in the distant horizon. “It’s going to land in Central Park, in the pond,” Rose said faintly. Jade jumped up, grabbing Rose. “C’mon,” she shouted, disappearing. Dave and Dirk exchanged glances, before starting to flash-step across the roofs of the buildings toward Central Park.

~~~

Dave saw the battle in flashes. Rose losing a wand. Jade getting a gash sliced in her arm.

In slow-motion, he watched as the demon teleported to right behind Dirk. And just as he was turning around, caught off-guard, the demon pulled Dirk’s katana right out of his hands, and stabbed him right in his chest. 

Everything seemed to freeze. Dirk’s glasses started to slip down his nose, showing his astonished expression, as a trickle of blood ran from his open mouth. 

Somebody was screaming.

Time was still liquid, but Dave was somehow moving. He gripped his sword and jumped right off of the building, swinging with all his might, and watching as the demon’s head came off with a satisfying “schick.”

And then everything went gray, and then black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dave woke up in a hospital bed, alone. He winced at the bright hospital lights, and, finding his glasses on top of his head, he pushed them over his eyes, blinking. He sat up, wincing at a sharp pain in his back and head. His next thought was to look for somebody, so he gingerly got out of the bed. He glanced at the clock, and saw that it was apparently 10 am. Confused, he shuffled over to the door, which swung open, and he peeked out. The halls were empty and silent. Had everybody evacuated for the “tornado”? He continued down the hall, now desperate to find another living person. He shouted out, and his voice echoed down the corridor.

Dave was suddenly nauseous, and leaned against the nearest door, which swung open, and Dave almost fell over, stumbling into the room. And when he looked up, all he could think was _this must be a dream_. Because there, on the bed, hooked up to a million machines, is John. An impossibly slow pulse is coming from the heart rate monitor. John is in a hospital gown and his glasses are missing—after a moment Dave locates them on a nearby table—but it’s unmistakably John. His face is as pale as snow, his hair oddly smooth, as if somebody had attempted to brush it down.

“Help,” Dave found himself calling. “Help!”

Running footsteps echoed down the hallway, and Rose and Jade came through the door, panting. “We went out for breakfast and when we came back—” Jade cut herself off, staring open-mouthed at the form on the bed. “Oh my god.”

~~~

After a quick discussion with Rose, Jade ports back to the apartment, a block away, and insists John get his ass over to the hospital. John does, and stares for about two minutes at his body. Then, before anybody can say anything else, he touches his own head, and the ghost disappears.

For two seconds, Dave doesn’t understand what’s happened, and then Rose says quickly, “His body took its soul back.” But she sounded uncertain, and he glances at her, then back at the still form on the bed, trying not to panic. Of course, that’s when John’s heart monitor starts beeping like crazy and his eyes shoot open, bloodshot but incredibly blue. Dave covers his mouth and tries not to cry. John coughs, and Dave can hear Rose and Jade talking excitedly in the background, but all he can see is _John, who wasn’t actually dead_. Both of them now have tears in their eyes. John grabs his glasses off of the table, and pulls off the various needles and breathing tube. Then he smiles, grabbing Dave’s hand and pulling him into a hug, which Dave gingerly reciprocates, remembering his injuries. “I can’t believe you found me,” John whispers, rubbing his face in Dave’s shoulder. Dave snorts, even as tears roll down his cheeks. “No homo, my ass,” he retorts, pulling up John’s chin so that he can press their lips together.

And Dave thinks, _We’ll be alright._

**Author's Note:**

> cheesy unrealistic ending is cheesy, woo  
> it might seem like I brushed over Dirk's death too quickly, whoops. Dave needs a lot more time to recover. He's probably due for a nervous breakdown pretty soon. Poor baby.
> 
> I need to never re-read this, for fear of cringing so hard that my face falls off.
> 
> And at the same time, I'm proud of it.  
> Also, just to clarify, the "demon" is supposed to be some form of Jack/Bec Noir. If anybody needs any more clarification about ANYTHING, please LET ME KNOW. Comments are greatly appreciated.
> 
> The title kind of just popped into my head at one point. Originally I had planned for Becquerel the dog to also be in the story, and then a coma/death=sleeping? So. I don't know, but I've come to like it, and I'm not changing it.  
> This fic felt like a lot more words than it actually was. Also, I don't know how to do time skips. Why is formatting so hard ;U;
> 
> I hope you liked it? Any and all feedback would be good. If anybody can actually write battle scenes, ADVICE? HELP? Criticism? Pointers? Please, just. I need to know. Thank you so much.
> 
> Signing off for now, Shiralala


End file.
